Cliona Hagan: 'I wish there were more women in the country music scene'

In an industry made for men, country music sensation Cliona Hagan is determined to shake things up, writes Kate Demolder

Cliona Hagan: ‘Never in my wildest dreams did I think this would happen’.

The songs started early. “I was one of those annoying kids who never stopped singing,” a sunkissed Clíona Hagan (34) tells me over Zoom from a wooden log cabin in her Tyrone home.“My granny sat through it all,” she laughs. “God love her.”

Hagan and her husband are just back from Tenerife, for a rare week away (“look at the cut of me, I’m still so burnt”) a glimpse of agency before a summer tethered to festivals.